Awards

We want to help jumpstart your unique ideas like never before – so much so that up to $500,000 in total contest funds are at stake!

During THE BIG IDEA CHALLENGE journey, the judges will be learning all about you, your BIG IDEA and your vision for it. Your key to securing a portion of these funds will be showcasing the true potential of your concept. Funds will (and must) be used to take your idea to the next level — ultimately making a positive impact on Nevada students.

So, keep your eye on the prize… but also keep your heart on improving our educational landscape. It’s the key to potentially having your BIG IDEA equate to a big award.

Submit your application for the 2023 BIG IDEA CHALLENGE. The official rules and regulations may be accessed here.

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2022 Winners

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Ben Nguyen, left, is pictured with Kris Engelstad of the Engelstad Foundation, Julie Pippenger of the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education, and fellow contest winners Eleanor Cormier and Stacy Sims.

Ben Nguyen, a teacher in the Clark County School District, who received $200,000 in funding for his “A Platform for the Future” concept. The concept includes building a platform for localized job shadowing, training, and mentorship to better guide and inspire Nevadans toward real and sustainable possibilities in their immediate communities. Within the first year of launch, Nguyen’s goal is to have at least 1,000 users and more than 10 partnering organizations regularly contributing to the platform. On his journey in participating in THE BIG IDEA CHALLENGE, Nguyen says, “particularly as an educator, it is an enormous honor and opportunity to be recognized for this project. So much of what we do is geared toward strengthening young people and our community and this will help me do just that.”

Las Vegas-based retired teacher Eleanor Cormier and her Project 300 Early Learning Academy model, an online virtual tutoring program for kindergarteners in urban elementary schools of Clark County to strengthen their literacy skills utilizing common core state standards in English language arts. As a result of the contest, she received $50,000 toward her idea, which will help her serve 100 students by the end of 2023. Reflecting on the contest she says, “this will help bring the joy of reading and joy of literacy to so many children.”

Mindful Music Moments (MMM), driven in Nevada by Henderson resident Dorothy Blake. With $25,000 in funding from THE BIG IDEA CHALLENGE, the program will be able to launch a pilot program in the state in 2023 and deepen conversations to expand its future scope. At its core, MMM is a combination of mindful, creative prompts and world-class music, providing students, teachers and administrators a daily moment for to ‘center and ground’ through music before learning begins. On the program’s expansion in Nevada, Stacy Sims, founder and director of MMM from The Well, says “we are a small and mighty team, and we are so eager to begin creating stronger partnerships in Nevada.”

Let’s keep this simple, shall we?

To enter THE BIG IDEA CHALLENGE: An Education Innovation Contest™, it boils down to this: We want to know all about you, your idea, what inspired it and how you can take it to the next level.

Application

The first step is your chance to pitch us your big idea. This entails completing the official application form, answering a handful of key, preliminary questions, preparing a quick video and submitting it by the contest’s deadline.

Timeline

Speaking of the deadline, here is one important date to keep in mind for the BIG IDEA CHALLENGE:

Application deadline
June 9, 2023

Legal

The official rules and regulations of the BIG IDEA CHALLENGE are very simple and straight forward.